On 22 April, the University of Pretoria’s Merensky 2 Library Auditorium hosted a poetry workshop led by the South African Poetry Project (ZAPP).The workshop commenced at 9:00 and ended at 18:00; with a poetry showcase.
The workshop was dedicated to exposing the university’s community of poets to a broadened informed creative approach in their journey in poetry. The workshop was titled, “Poetry NonScenes”. According to Deborah Burns, the founder of ZAPP. while addressing the audience who were in attendance, “the purpose of the workshop is giving hope to young people, and giving young people a chance to share their work with the public as a way of teaching performance poetry”.The workshop explored the conceptualisation of the metaphor poetic device as it is understood from different perspectives within the poetry fraternity.
During the workshop, a discussion session was led by Jolene Raison, one of the facilitators of the workshop, in which she shared her understanding of the metaphor poetic device. In her talk she expounded at length and detail around the intricate poetic approach inspired by “cognitive linguistics”, a way to connect with the audience to which the metaphor poetic tool is used to convey the poet’s intention without making the poetic piece dull. As the workshop progressed the poets who were in attendance worked on two poems authored by esteemed South African poets Zewande Bk Bhengu, “#FeesMustFall” and Lebo Mashile’s, “Tomorrow’s Daughters”.
During the poetry comparison session, Raison explored with the poets an assortment of ways in engaging with today and yesteryear poetic works. Through teaching the poets how to spot areas of interest from a poem that they appreciate and then create their own pieces with the audience. While drawing inspiration from an original piece that the poet has read. The type of technique Raison was exposing the UP poets community is called, “writing poems in response”.
UP staff and students from various faculties were in attendance including the acting Head of Department for the English Department Prof Corinne Sandwith. The workshop drew to a close with the poets sharing their poems with the audience and their peers.
